Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) is facing significant obstacles in his legislative push to legalize marijuana, with resistance from Republicans and members of his own party threatening chances of passage in the upper chamber. Schumer has said that his aim is to bring a comprehensive marijuana reform bill forward later this month, weeks after the House passed a bill that would remove marijuana from the federal controlled substances list. “We hope to do that towards the end of April,” Schumer said in remarks last week, noting discussions with Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who are involved in the push. He also added that he has been reaching out to “a few Republicans to see what they want.” Staunch Republican opposition to legislation to legalize marijuana is one of the biggest hurdles Schumer faces in passing a measure through the evenly split Senate, where Democrats would need the backing of all of their members and at least 10 GOP members to make the bill law. Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), a member of GOP leadership, cast doubt on his chances. “I would not think it would pass the Senate right now,” he said.

420 Intel – Marijuana Industry News, 04/10/2022 20:00:00

Open article: https://420intel.com/articles/2022/04/11/democrats-face-tough-climb-winning-senate-approval-legal-marijuana

Maryland’s Republican governor announced on Friday that he won’t stand in the way of implementing marijuana legalization if voters approve the reform on the November ballot. Gov. Larry Hogan (R) included the cannabis legislation in a list of bills he is not signing or vetoing but is allowing to take effect without his signature. Last week, The Senate and House of Delegates approved separate measures to put a referendum before voters on whether the state should legalize marijuana and begin implementing the reform if the ballot question is approved. Both HB 1, the referendum measure, and HB 837, the implementation bill, was sponsored by Del. Luke Clippinger (D), who chairs the Judiciary Committee and led a legislative cannabis workgroup formed by House Speaker Adrienne Jones (D). The former bill simply places legalization on the ballot and, because it is a constitutional amendment, is not subject to action by the governor. HB 837, meanwhile, sets basic rules for the adult-use program if voters approve the ballot referendum. Those provisions mostly concern issues such as penalties and expungement. It is that bill that Hogan announced will take effect without his putting pen to paper.

Mmp News Author, Medical Marijuana Program Connection, 04/08/2022 23:59:00

Open article: https://mmpconnect.com/maryland-governor-lets-bill-to-implement-marijuana-legalization-take-effect-without-his-signature/

The fight to legalize marijuana in Delaware this year isn’t over yet, with the sponsor of a reform bill that was defeated in the House last month introducing two new, complementary measures to enact the policy change. And importantly, this new legislative push seems to have at least tentative support from the House speaker, who otherwise opposes legalization. Rep. Ed Osienski’s (D) first attempt to pass a measure to tax and regulate cannabis for adult use this session was a flop, failing on the floor even though it received a majority of votes. It needed a three-fifths supermajority because the bill included economic components, and it came up two votes short of that. Now the lawmaker is back at it again with a different, two-track approach. He filed a new pair of bills late last month: one would simply legalize possession and sharing of up to one ounce of marijuana for adults 21 and older, and the other would create specific regulations for cannabis commerce that largely resemble the prior, House-defeated bill. Osienski’s thinking behind the bifurcated approach is strategic.

Kyle Jaeger, Marijuana Moment, 04/06/2022 10:43:00

Open article: https://www.marijuanamoment.net/delaware-marijuana-legalization-effort-revived-with-two-track-approach-following-house-defeat/

When Republicans who oppose federal marijuana prohibition vote against your legalization bill, you probably are doing something wrong. That is what happened last week when the House of Representatives approved the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act by a vote of 220 to 204. The ayes included 217 Democrats but only three Republicans, two fewer than voted for the MORE Act when the House passed it in 2020. The meager and waning GOP support for the bill suggests that Democrats want credit for trying to legalize marijuana but are not really interested in building the bipartisan coalition that would be necessary to accomplish that goal. The 2020 vote was the first time that either chamber of Congress had approved legislation that would remove marijuana from the list of federally prohibited drugs. But as expected, the MORE Act went nowhere in the Republican-controlled Senate. The Senate is now evenly divided between the two parties, with Democratic control depending on Vice President Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking vote. So even if Democrats unanimously supported a legalization bill, they would still need the support of 10 Republicans to overcome a filibuster.

Cannabis Business Executive – Cannabis and Marijuana industry news, 04/06/2022 10:57:00

Open article: https://www.cannabisbusinessexecutive.com/2022/04/when-will-democrats-get-serious-about-repealing-pot-prohibition/